Thank you for sharing this information...I would like to add/clarify some things.

Sleep apnea and a number of conditions go hand in hand...sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea and hypertension, sleep apnea and diabetes, sleep apnea and asthma, sleep apnea and depression, sleep apnea and anxiety, sleep apnea and acid reflux....there is currently alot of debate as to what causes what but I think it's safe to say that if you have a condition that often accompanies apnea, you should start screening yourself for apnea...the doctors won't do it.

Treatment for sleep apnea can diminish or alleviate many of these conditions as I found out in my sleep disorders support group. My personal experience has been a drop in blood pressure of over 20 points which was enough to get me off of blood pressure medication (diet and exercise keep me off of meds).

Sleep is our body's way of healing itself so it isn't surprising that lack of sleep or poor quality sleep would impact so many things in our system.

The three sleep disorder doctors I have seen and all of my other doctors say my sleep apnea is the cause of my mental health problems. Now, my pdoc whom I've seen for 5 months says my mental health problems are causing my sleep problems. I also suffer from hight bp and cholesterol, gerd, IBS and other problems. Go figure!

The three sleep disorder doctors I have seen and all of my other doctors say my sleep apnea is the cause of my mental health problems. Now, my pdoc whom I've seen for 5 months says my mental health problems are causing my sleep problems. I also suffer from hight bp and cholesterol, gerd, IBS and other problems. Go figure!

Sleep medicine is a relatively new field and I doubt very much that your pdoc is up to snuff on the correlation between sleep and mental health....the soldiers in third world countries know more about sleep deprivation that our pdocs, do...thus torture by lack of sleep! I personally found that my any anxiety or depression issues lessoned or disappeared once I got to sleeping well. As for my acid reflux, 20 years of meds and diet changes did nothing. It was so bad that I would wake up and vomit the acid at night....but haven't had acid reflux, and eat whatever I want (provided it is DASH approved), and haven't had reflux for over 3 years!!! Oh, I should say except for some heartburn I experienced as a side effect for hypertension...speaking of which has dropped at least 20 points, perhaps more, with cpap treatment...I am now med free thanks to my little machine and the DASH diet.

Personally, I hate it when doctors blame sleep problems on anxiety and depression. Both anxiety and depression are symptoms of something else that is not quite right whether it be sleep deprivation, a chemical imbalance in the brain, adrenal gland malfunctions, whatever. IMHO, lazy uneducated doctors blame stress and anxiety on everything without finding the cause! If stress and anxiety caused hypertension, sleep problems, whatever, then we would all be sick with these conditions! But many of us deal with incredible stress and anxiety on a daily basis...that's not to say it's good for us...but I doubt it is the cause of ALL of our unidentified problems.

I read your posts on Norvasc and sleepapnea. I am currently on 5mg Norvasc for 2 weeks now and having sleep problems very similar to what you described in your posts - waking up at midnight and 3 am and sometimes not able to fall asleep after 3. I am sure it is caused by this medication, I've never had this kind of sleep problems before.
However I was diagnosed with sleepapnea, and I used a CPAP for about a year and had to discontinue because it was disturbing my sleep, I used Resperonics RemStar pro2 c-Flex.
You mentioned that you were able to successfully treat your sleepapnea. Could you recommend other machines that might work better?

Thank you. I appriciate any information that you can provide.
stfrans102

Just checked my cpap and it is a remstar auto by respironics...and it happens to be 3-4 years old.

If you don't mind my asking, what kind of problems did you have with your cpap? Was it mask? Pressures? Noise? Do you know what your pressures were set at? I ask because I remember someone having problems with their equipment on this board, and someone else said that their pressures were too high for a cpap and that they should be using a bipap...just some thoughts.

Your comments about your experiences with Norvasc are so very much appreciated. It's hard enough experiencing nasty side effects, and it makes it worse when no one understands or thinks it is due to poor sleep hygeine, menopause, or naps! Thank you for validating my experience! No, even with the apnea, I do not remember waking up at night...nor did I have problems getting back to sleep if I was wakened by the environment (phone as an example). Although I had sleep problems with Norvasc, I think hydrochlorothiazide and benicar/hct caused the worst sleep problems for me. I always woke up at 1:30 am with the hct...and although the hct had my legs kicking at night, the benicar/hct had them kicking in the daytime, too!

Enough about me...I only say these things so others think to look at meds if they're having problems...too many doctors, mine for instance, don' t take side effects seriously.

Thank you for the quick reply. I was on Diovan for a month before Norvasc (minimum dosage for both) and had very similar sleep disturbance, even slightly worse with Diovan. Exactly as you said my sleepapnea sleep disturbasnce is almost unnoticable compared to these two drugs. With these two drugs it is pretty much unbearable. I can clearly tell the difference.
Now, why did I quit cpap - well it started relatively good for about 4 months I had 4 hours in the machine many times, but it got worse later - not to discourage anyone. I beleive I developed intolerance to the machine with time. I started waking up simply because I felt that there was not enough air, and because of that I developed sleepapnea much much worse then I originaly had (without machine I rarely have daytime sleepness, physically fit, no extra wight, jogger).
The mask was "comfortgel" - pretty comfortable. Machine was set to 9. After looking at my results the doctor with not much enthusiasm recommended different machine - to my surprise he was not knowlegeable in the technical side of cpap equiment and did not explain how this might be different. At that time I was so tired of cpap that decided to take a break , and never came back.
I play didgeridoo now (if you need more info about didgeridoo and sleepapnea I can send a link) , I will refrain from disclosing results yet because I didn't put enough time doing this.
But I am still thinking if using a bipap or something else would've made a difference. Meanwhile I am trying to address my BP, still in search for a drug with minimum side effects.
stfrans102

You're welcome for the reply...haven't been reading the boards much lately so my seeing your post, and your seeing my post was meant to be, I guess.

Will address your cpap concerns first as this is the sleep board, . First off, it sounds like your doctor is not very knowledgeable if he suggested a change of machine under the circumstances...just because the doctor is a specialist, don't assume s/he knows everything about sleep disorders/apnea/cpaps! My sleep specialist (a pulmonary guy) treated me effectively for apnea, but missed the side effects of bp meds which crippled me with fatigue (I consider sleeping 16-20 hours per day crippling). I found one of the most knowledgable/helpful resources was a respiratory therapist who personally had sleep apnea and worked in a durable medical equipment store...he was an incredible help!

If you wake up because you feel like you're not getting enough air, listen to your body! You're probably not getting enough air but there may be lots of reasons for that, not all of which are machine related.

Does your machine have a "smart card"? If downloaded that card can tell your doctor if your pressures are set correctly, if you snore, if your mask leaks, and a wealth of other things...if you're not getting enough air, the first thing to check is to see if the pressures are correct...apnea can vary in degrees per individual and it may be that your pressures are ok sometimes, but not other times. If your machine doesn't have a smart card, it may be helpful to rent a machine that has one until you can get a handle on what your pressures are and what the machine settings need to be.

Make sure you clean the filters on your machine...if you aren't already using an allergy filter in addition to the sponge filter, try using one. I didn't realize I had allergies until I started using my machine and I find that having clean filters keeps me from ripping off my mask regularly (although I still have problems).

Are you using distilled water? Are you cleaning your supplies regularly? Bacteria/allergens could build up and impact your ability to breath with cpap.

Allergies, meds (from personal experience, bp meds), alcohol and other factors can influence apnea so you might want to try keeping a sleep diary with a record of how you slept and what may have influenced a good/bad night with cpap.

I can't emphasize enough how important using the cpap is...it has lowered my bp at least 20 points, enough to get off meds...and it can prevent heart damage. Cpap is more than getting a good night's sleep!!

I have never heard of didgeridoo but will check it out...sending links are against the board rules...there are a few exceptions but you'll need to read about those.

Now the blood pressure...given you are on a minumum dose, I suspect that you could be med free with the DASH diet and cpap....my pressures were 200/100 and now they are below normal (without meds) despite a weight gain from bp meds....do check out the blood pressure boards....I was on 5 different meds for bp and Norvasc had the least side effects for me...but even then, waking twice a night was not acceptable.

Just checked the info on the didgeridoo...now that is interesting!! And I do believe it would be beneficial as it ties into other studies that suggest better breathing improves blood pressure (and a wealth of other things!).

From what I've read, yoga, breathing exercises, cpap, and a reduction in allergies all can improve one's blood pressure...one theory is that improved oxygen levels increase nitric oxide levels, and NO is critical in regulating blood pressure. In addition to maintaining healthy oxygen levels, they think that the cpap pressures may allow airway tissues to heal/strengthen, thus decreasing asthma symptoms...this seems to be the theory they are using to explain the improvements experienced by didgeridooists! Makes sense to me.

Well, thank you for the new info!! Every little bit helps...am a musician by heart but haven't been blowing my horn...this info is all the more reason to do so!

.... I was on Diovan for a month before Norvasc (minimum dosage for both) and had very similar sleep disturbance, even slightly worse with Diovan. Exactly as you said my sleepapnea sleep disturbasnce is almost unnoticable compared to these two drugs. With these two drugs it is pretty much unbearable. I can clearly tell the difference....

stfrans,

Were you on diovan or dovan hct?

Do you know why your sleep was bad? I think one reason my sleep was bad because 2 of my bp meds caused restless leg/periodic limb movement...would be curious to know if others had similar experiences. Unfortunately, we "sleep" through the side effects so can only guess as to why we don't sleep well because of these medications.

And yes, I can certainly understand the "unbearable" side effect of poor sleep because of blood pressure medication....sleeping with apnea is nothing, absolutely nothing compared to sleeping under the influence of a blood pressure med.

Do you know why your sleep was bad? I think one reason my sleep was bad because 2 of my bp meds caused restless leg/periodic limb movement...would be curious to know if others had similar experiences. Unfortunately, we "sleep" through the side effects so can only guess as to why we don't sleep well because of these medications.

Bethsheba

Hello Bethsheba,

I was on diovan (not hct), I don't think I want to come back to it. Anyaway, I really appreciate your replies - you are probably right - there is a chance that I can get off meds with cpap if I only can tolerate it.
Back to my cpap machine, I own it, I did not have a service. And yes I have a card, the doctor checked it regulaly and there were no problems with leakage or snoring I was just taking it off too often during night. I used distilled water and changed filters. The problem was that I never had a chance to talk to a cpap specialist, I need to find one like you did.
I don't think my doctor had a clue how a person might feel in a cpap mask.
Well let me put my act together here and figure out the way out.
I will ask you questions again after I think this through.

Last thing - didgeridoo is helpful for sleepapnea with or without cpap, we can discuss this later. And by the way it sounds very relaxing. Also I have Resperate to reduce BP - has moderate effect, maybe I have not been using it long enough.

I would feel the same way you do about the dovan...I wouldn't want to take it again either. I asked about the diovan hct because hct can cause electrolyte problems which in turn can impact sleep. But apparently an electrolyte balance wasn't causing your sleep problems.

As far as the cpap goes, you may find a wealth of info at your fingertips...there is a growing number of organizations, associations, and suppliers who offer support in one way or other. I found that people in my sleep support group, sponsored by my durable medical equipment supplier, were very helpful as they had varied health issues that responded favorably to cpap treatment. The durable medical equipment people also sponsored a meeting and invited different cpap sales reps so we could "check out" different equipment. Afterwards, people could ask the sales reps questions or tell them about problems they were having. Just wish the DME people would do that program again sometime!

It was also a good place to "shop" for specialists...ENTs, pulmonary, cardiac, etc that were board certified in sleep medicine.

Maybe if nothing else I can give a different slant. I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, and I was told I could go the CPAP route, OR have the surgery done. That included septoplasty ( deviated septum), UP3 and soft pallate thinned by laser and tonsills removed. I chose the latter, I figured it was worth a shot, 50- 60% success rate. Its a nasty recovery for someone my age especially. Im 57 years old, and having all that done at once was total pain city, especially the first 3 days. Lost 7 pounds in 4 days. Im 2 weeks post op today, nasal splints out and I can breath like never before. I pray it lasts, thats for sure. I just didnt want to go the machine route for the rest of my life if theres a chance to get it corrected. My own opinion, Just wanted to share a different story.